Northern Europe, Viking / Norse culture, ca. 8th to 11th century CE. A striking, wearable silver bracelet with a spiral band of thin gold wire wrapped around its surface. The silver is textured and made of several twisted wires. This large bracelet would have signified the wealth and status of its owner, and may have been deposited in a hoard or buried in a grave. In Old Norse, the word for bracelet is "baugr," a word that Viking poets used in many metaphors: as the shape of a shield boss, and the image of the coiled Midgard serpent that lives in the sea and encircles the terrestrial world. Size: 3.2" W (8.1 cm); 33.9 grams
The important Viking metalworking shops correspond to their great trading ports and proto-urban centers - Birka, Helgo, Sigtuna, and Lund in Sweden, Ribe, Haithabu (Hedeby), and Fyrkat in Denmark, and Kaupang and Trondheim in Norway. Silver was the principal currency of the Viking world, which stretched from Russia to northern Canada at the height of their influence. In many places, the Vikings kept silver not as coins, but as jewelry, a wearable currency form that was not subject to the authority of a monarch or mint.
Provenance: private New York, USA collection
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#129285
Condition
Dark patina on silver surface. Encrustation within the lower profile areas of the bracelet. Slight bending to form. Piece is wearable!